Ah Metalcore, you have found my inbox once more. DIAMOND DRIVE hail from Aarhus, Denmark and have been together since 2007. Since their formation they have released three questionable EPs, a full length album and this EP, "I Am". Now, this band have been together for eight years on and off. To me, releasing so many EPs and only one full-length album feels almost as though they couldn't be arsed to write another full length album so they just threw four tracks together and called it an EP. Now, maybe I'm being a bit judgemental but that's certainly how it seems to me, having never listened to this band and having no prior conceptions of them.

This EP is short and sweet, running at just under twenty minutes and having just four songs, you could listen to this entire album in one go quite easily. The first track of the album "Riot" starts off chunky and heavy and very SLIPKNOT-esque where the guitars are concerned. The vocals kick in and they're pure Metalcore; they incorporate clean vocals with the raspy screeching and low gutturals. It's a whirlwind experience! Now, I'm not particularly fond of Metalcore in the slightest, especially the vocals; but I really, really love this. Everything works so well and despite the slight whiny teenage-girl metal sound, they're really enjoyable! They bring in a lot of tasters of other genres also, it makes for seriously pleasurable listening!

A few songs later comes "The Seedead" and it's catchy as hell! The chorus features some harmonic vocals before blasting you with the heavy riffage as usual. It's very easy to sing along to this song and it's easy to listen to; almost reminds me of early PAPA ROACH.

Think of all the bands who helped to pioneer the Metalcore genre- ATREYU, PAPA ROACH, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and so on. Now think of what happened if you mixed the core elements from each band into one - the great guitar work of BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, the vocals of ATREYU and the passion of PAPA ROACH; you would get DIAMOND DRIVE. My only bad point about this album was the length of it. If a little more time and effort was put in to make this a full-length album, it would be almost perfect. It feels rushed and doesn't go on for nearly as long as it should. DIAMOND DRIVE, if you're reading this, I want six more songs like these four, please!